THE USE OF ASHES – white nights:
glowing lights
(CD/LP, tonefloat)
Strange designs of popmusic
have become inflationary in the wake of the Animal Collective’s first two
albums. So much that they have spawned a whole new label of a subgenre
ranging from Devendra Banhart to the Akorn Family and from Comets Of Fire to
Six Organs of Admittance (to name some of the better ones). A lot of those
use their strange noodlings and mixing escapades as an excuse for lack of
vision, lack of structure and lack of technical ability. The more awesome it
is if amidst the sea of mediocre and unlistenable hippie shit there comes up
a real diamond of impromptu songsmith handicraft. One that flows like water
and shines like the sun reflecting on the sea, radiating ease and wisdom.
The trio Use of Ashes on the
one hand peruses a lot of uncommon instruments like sitar, tabla and even a
bouzouki. On the other one third of the band is only responsible for what
they call “sound and spheres”. An introspective reader might already
guess where “white nights glowing lights” is headed: a mix of folklore
world music with trance aspects. Somewhere between psychedlic drones and
luminous melodies. And there is also a certain kind of shamanic atmosphere
coming from some of the more looped instrumental parts, whereas in other
places vintage analogue synthesizers add colours.
The vocal melodies and also
some of the lyrics very interestingly remind me of the late work of David
Gilmour. For instance the song “Dark white planet” that starts with the
words “you and me waiting / on this dark white planet / we stayed awake
too long / me and you / on this white dark planet”. The first part of that
song seems to me like a psylocibine gobbling band of heathens from beyond
the mountains forming a Pink Floyd Revival band after a night of trips. And
therefore Use of Ashes never use volume or loudness as a means of aesthetics
in their songs; their songs would probably work without amplification as
well. Quite contrarily, what fascinated me during the first few listens was
the intrinsic interplay between these old string instruments and a drumkit
that seems to consist mostly of big toms and the way the form a song so
gently but with persistence.
Definitely, this album
breathes a lof of nostalgia for (imagined) old times, centuries ago, when
living was more simple. “it’s a crystal ride / picking daisies / on a
lazy daisy day” (lazy daisy day) At times fantasy garnishments enter this
realm, like a prince with golden hair, a dragon ro silent mountain. As it
turns out: “white nights: glowing lights” is part of an album cycle that
begann with “White nights: the hand of tzafkiel”. Well, if you follow
these songs over the course of some albums then a mighty story line will
evolve. But with only this one to get into it is like opening “Lord of the
Rings” arbitrarily at some page and then reading 120 pages and then
closing the book again and calling that a story. It won’t work.
